1.6 Million people, mostly children, die every year from disease related to unclean water and poor sanitation. Life Force Kiosks, a non-profit operating in Kenya, was formed to help provide clean water to all.

The team is complete!

Today was an exciting day for Life Force Kiosks. We met for the very first time with our team of water vendor partners in Kibera. At the meeting, Steve and I explained in more detail our model for treating water and washing water storage containers to reduce the risk of disease. We also explained the benefits to them as partners, namely that they will earn more money every day while helping their community stay healthy.

When I first started talking to other non-profit organizations in Kibera I was warned that the vendors are often threatened by people working in the clean water sector, but it was not too difficult to win them over with our model.

Life Force Kiosks Water Vendors and Managers

First, there is no out-of-pocket cost to the vendors. Life Force Kiosks provides the supplies to the vendors for free and then we recoup the cost with sales revenue. It’s a lot easier for a non-profit organization to raise the investment capital than a bunch of water vendors living in the slums. Second, there’s no opportunity cost for the vendors. They still show up to do their same job every day like they would if we didn’t exist. Worst case scenario for them is that they can’t sell our products in which case they just make the same income they would normally make from selling water. But if they do sell our products, they make their normal water income plus some extra amount from the new sales. Third, we make their job easy by implementing lots of marketing promotions in the community. We’ll have fun events like raffles and concerts to promote our products, put up signs all over the community, partner with health clinics, and give presentations at womens’ groups. Eventually some people will simply walk up to the vendor and ask for our products, which means the vendors make a little extra cash with very little extra effort.

We’re excited to have the pilot team fully formed and excited to get started. Over the next few weeks we’ll conduct some basic operational, business, and health training to the team. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we approach the launch of Life Force Kiosks in Kibera!